The present invention relates to electrically operated illumination sources, and, more specifically to flashlights which may be used for illumination in difficult to reach areas.
It is frequently difficult to illuminate recessed areas in inaccessible areas. For example, an auto mechanic, when working underneath an automobile may have considerable difficulty in directing light from a conventional flashlight because there simply is not sufficient room for him to rotate the flashlight along all the possible axis. Even if he should succeed in correctly positioning the flashlight, he would inefficiently occupy one hand in retaining its position.
A number of solutions to this problem have been suggested. For example, flashlights are available in which the light bulb radiates light perpendicularly to the body tube of the flashlight. The difficulty to this approach is that not all lighting situations require a 90 degree angle. Another approach is to use fiber optics for illumination. The problem with this approach is that fiber optics are expensive and delicate and have a significant light transmission loss.